^^The Giant Discovery does not need to be in that area. It could be themed to anything, and put anywhere - especially the Trailblazer spot that has been vacant for years. They could even put a ride next to Chubasco because it's just a wasted space.

90% of the park is past it's prime than. You can get a walk-on, on anything certain days. For me, Superman is about the only ride that is super hard to get a walk-on.

"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"

If Wicked Twister was 1,000/hr it would have easily beat 1M riders on any given year, but it didn't according to your source. To make matters worse it only has the rider numbers from a few years ago. Who knows what they are now.

V2 was still very popular between the early 2000's when it opened and 2015-2016. I started to notice the decline in 2016 to now.

"I've been told that some part of every wish will be heard but lately I lost sight of the truth in those words."

The building I feel wasn't a good design because it hid the Trailblazer ride in it. People want to see what they are getting into.

If a Giant Discovery wouldn't fit, than you just buy a Chance Revolution, and put it in that spot instead. Even next to Trailblazer is really nothing. You put the lines there.

"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"

^How do you think they are going to fit the East River Crawler into Orbit's spot? You have 2 streams of water right next to that ride, so I think it's hard to push the middle black part too much back.

"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"

Alright, the last 4 pages of the thread are a complete waste of bandwidth. Everytime I upon I open this thread I except to see a "minor update or rumor", not a senseless argument about why V2 will or will not be removed. Where are the moderators when you need them, right?

Anyways, back on topic

Edit: spelling error

Last edited by RollingCoasting on July 4th, 2017, 1:22 am, edited 2 times in total.

We went on the 3rd and 4th. Things are going much better. Most of the coasters have announcements about how they need to launch in 30 seconds. The crowds were worse, but the lines were not. Batman was even a walk up around 7:30 or so on the 4th. Roaring Rapids advertised a 60 min wait with a line almost back to the house thing and it took us about 10 minutes to clear. Justice League single rider line on the 3rd took about 10 min. Joker single rider line on the 4th around 7 took the wife about 20-30 min w/a break down. X-Flight back at the keyhole took significantly less time than the usual 30-40 min. Flash passers did not clog anything, maybe 10 per ride wait time as opposed to the 300 some we'd see 3 years ago starting on the 3rd July weekend. Demon was 10-15 on the 3rd around 4 maybe. Giant Drop had the longest line we'd seen in a while on the 3rd. About 15 min. Batman's queue was completely full on the 3rd most of the time we walked by it. Not sure on Pretzelman or Raging Trimbrake. Raging had the usual first few rows of the queue full plus a little more. Viper on the 3rd had a line back to the 2nd flash pass worker and took maybe 15-20 min. Before it would take 40-60 most of the time. Whizzer had a pretty full queue on the 3rd, but not the 4th.

The new light show was fun but nothing someone would absolutely have to see. I noticed they were putting on a lot more small shows and things on throughout the park, that was badly needed. The wrestling wasn't up to par with what they usually do on 4th fest. The 7pm show on the 3rd didn't even feature much of anything resembling an actual match despite having name talent. So we didn't bother watching the matches on the 4th. We can drive to Joliet or that baseball field by Midlothian and watch Blitz whenever. In a couple weeks the rides may all have unfathomably long lines.

Did not ride Eagle. Was going to but they closed it early for fireworks. Hoping maybe it's not as Mean Streaky as it was last year. Demon in the yellow car was about the best ride we ever had on it in 6 years. Very smooth and didn't give me any sorta minor whiplash in the loops. We were in the last row. Last row Viper was very bumpy and the airtime isn't as good because you just sorta fly over the hills. Batman is running good as ever, but it makes me miss Montu and the bigger elements and longer ride. If only they could just build a batwing on the end of the ride...X-Flight on the left side is still the same. Bumpy in the final helix. Would be about perfect if it had a couple final big elements.

Those Bavarian pretzels are awesome if you get em fresh. They harden up pretty rapidly if left out. Fresh funnel cake was also a lot better than what we usually get. Ice cream is top notch. Capone's has extremely slow lines and a real lack of tables if you're thinking about going there. Spaghetti was much better this weekend. The meal pass is often more enticing than a lot of the rides nowadays. Hot or even warm water wasn't working anywhere as usual. Roaring Rapids gave us probably the fastest ride we ever got on it.

They got Cedar Point bins on Batman now too. Never noticed a separate railing to separate the front row rides on Batman like X-Flight has. Susan Rosen had a student named Serena do her show. Not a bad show but there is a marked difference. Glad there's something in the Pictorum. Anything they can do to make it more of an experience as opposed to just a few coasters is a good move. Lines to get into the park seem to move faster with the new system.

I can give them credit for the improvements. But this is with half the back lot at least 30% empty. It's already pushing it. We may go again a couple more times this month and see how it pans out.

^The park tells lies to the non-enthusiasts when they say 30 seconds to dispatch. Could you imagine them sending outdoor Batman in 30 seconds? The thing would stop on the lifthill every single cycle. For V2, they wait 2 minutes to send it, and than the girl goes we only have 30 seconds to dispatch. lol

Spacely's, Little Dipper, and the Batman indoors are probably the only rides that can safely be sent within 30 seconds.

"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"

"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"

I wonder if they're misreporting the wait times to keep people out of the lines. The times they post and the times on the queue sites were way off. Usually they aren't. Doesn't Raging have a countdown? Whatever they're doing, they're moving the lines along way more efficiently and without many empty seats. It wasn't that long ago that they were taking 5 min to dispatch Viper trains.

^I think the Zipper (joker) is helping keep the lines for the other rides all down. Almost everytime I go on that ride, it's almost 1 hour, and that's not even those HUGE switchbacks to the right. 1 hour is maybe 400 people. Their might be 500 people that are stuck their for 1 hr 1/2 everyday this year.

For the days you went, was the waterpark also really packed because it was really warm out? That matters also. When it's 90 degrees out, everyone is in the waterpark. When it's about 70-79 degrees, everyone is in the regular park.

As of right now, the park is also on it's peak with roller coasters. Some of the times, they were getting new coasters, they would always close another one. Now, they added one, and didn't take away one, yet... Iron Wolf closed, and they added X-Flight. Ragin Cajun closed and they added Goliath. Little Dipper seems to be the only one they added, but didn't take away one. Deja Vu closed, and they added Batman indoors.

"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"

Ilovthevu' wrote:^I think they tune out recorded spiels over live spiels way more.

People will tune out anything they hear. When I went on Goliath recently people were STILL pulling down the restraints after probably hearing the announcement 5 times in line and before boarding. They should add a big sign on the stairs telling you to leave the restraint up.

Ilovthevu' wrote:^The park tells lies to the non-enthusiasts when they say 30 seconds to dispatch. Could you imagine them sending outdoor Batman in 30 seconds? Spacely's, Little Dipper, and the Batman indoors are probably the only rides that can safely be sent within 30 seconds.

While it sounds silly to us, I think it really puts the hustle into people. That is, when the operator says it clearly enough to be understood. I think the real problem is the cubbies and drink holders. X-Flight, Batman and Bull need to get rid of those. The exit area is so cramped on those rides, that it really slows down load and unload. For those, it should be mandatory to store at least bags in lockers. Maybe provide them free for the riders. I know Universal does this for some rides.

Ilovthevu' wrote:^The park tells lies to the non-enthusiasts when they say 30 seconds to dispatch. Could you imagine them sending outdoor Batman in 30 seconds? Spacely's, Little Dipper, and the Batman indoors are probably the only rides that can safely be sent within 30 seconds.

I think the real problem is the cubbies and drink holders. X-Flight, Batman and Bull need to get rid of those. The exit area is so cramped on those rides, that it really slows down load and unload. For those, it should be mandatory to store at least bags in lockers. Maybe provide them free for the riders. I know Universal does this for some rides.

I absolutely disagree. The smaller the station exit, the faster they will store those bins, and drink containers compared to something like Superman where the train and exit area is gigantic, and they might have 1 bin near the exit. Yes, the Batman outdoor exit is a little too small, and I think that the Whizzer exit area is the right size with the exit being in the right place (in the middle of the train). It's just a little bigger than Batman outdoor. As with anything, it's the workers speed on certain rides. Some of the workers at the park are just SLOW, and some workers are fast. On the flip side, the Batman station isn't the coolest place in the world. How would you like to run that ride in 90 degree weather? The park doesn't know how to use 3 workers efficiently either. The operator for Batman should check rows 1 & 2 walking across the rows. The 2nd worker should check rows 3-5, and the last worker should check rows 6-8. They are stuck in their ways, and don't realize that less walking by each employee will make operations faster.

X-Flight is a poorly designed exit just like Demon. That's the REAL problem with that ride. The reason is because you have to walk the entire ride almost unless you are towards the front seat avoiding people that are entering. Exits for coasters should be smaller and towards the middle of the ride - not on either ends of the ride - like those 2. Rue Le Dodge is another terrible exit. You have to walk the entire bumper cars floor in order to exit which adds probably at least 1 minute to that ride loading / unloading procedure.

To increase capacity, the ultimate goal to get rid of the people as fast as possible through exiting. The further the exit is, that will only hurt your capacity. Exits should be in the middle of the ride. Station exits should be smaller - like Whizzer. Station loading area should only be a TINY bit bigger than something like Batman outdoors. Maybe fit only 2 more people per row so it's easier to pass. Some sort of gate that would lock, or that is automatic is so much better than a turnstyle. Turnstyles only add more time to the unloading process. Put the turnstyles before the ride instead.

Where is Raging Bull's turnstyle? Is it at the exit? If so, that's part of your problem. They need a large gate instead, if so.

Even if a turnstyle takes 1 second, that's 36 seconds for those people to leave.

"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"

One thing that I've noticed is that rides where you have to step DOWN to board (Viper, Eagle, Whizzer for example) seem to load much more slowly than rides where you just walk up and board (Raging Bull, Batman, X-Flight for example).

^Whizzer is a really fast loading ride. I don't understand where it's taking too long with that ride. For Viper, and Eagle, they don't have enough employees for each side. They are only using 2 employees to check the entire train of 30 people with seatbelts and lapbars. For Eagle, they have a 3rd employee that's in the booth. Viper would need 4, and Eagle would need need 5 employees per each side instead, but oh well. So, those rides are going to take forever. If those rides didn't have seatbelts, it wouldn't take a long time, but they do..

Last edited by Ilovthevu' on July 7th, 2017, 1:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"

Ilovthevu' wrote: I absolutely disagree. The smaller the station exit, the faster they will store those bins, and drink containers compared to something like Superman where the train and exit area is gigantic, and they might have 1 bin near the exit.

I disagree with your disagreement. In most cases, the ride designers are limited to where they can put the exits. The only place for X-Flight to exit is through the front. In this case, the drink holders don't make a difference. I never saw any problem with demon, the "storage" area is open enough that people can get in and out of the bins at the same time. Batman on the other hand is super cramped and the bins totally make it slow to get in and out of compared to if they weren't there. Bull's turnstyle is at the beginning of the exit and flanked by bins. Traffic slows to a halt during unload because of this and because the exit ramp is only really wide enough for a single file line. Either way, these rides would benefit from removing bins in my opinion.

^That's why the Arrow X at Magic Mountain had a station unload, and a station load. You don't have people loading, and unloading on the same side which is such a bad idea. I think with X^2, they changed that because they are CHEAP, and they don't want to run 2 trains all the time plus unload requires more workers. That's probably why Six Flags didn't buy another Wing Coaster, other than the fact that the ride is bumpy in some parts.

Even Cedar Fair (which is buying B&Ms) only bought 1 wing coaster that I know of.

"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"

^They still bought Full Throttle though (a year after X-Flight) which I have yet to find a real price for. $6 million is a JOKE. Backlot Stunt Coaster I have for $13 million in 2005 which was 1,960 ft, and Full Throttle which is taller is 2200 ft opened in 2013. Backlot Stunt coaster tallest height is 45 ft tall, and Full Throttle's loop is 160 ft tall. For $6 million, every Six Flags park would buy a Full Throttle. Instead for that price, you only get 863 ft, and a shuttle coaster like the one at Discovery Kingdom.

The point is, is that they spent some good money on a coaster after X-Flight. They could have bought 2 B&M X-Flight coasters back to back at different parks.

When I went to Magic Mountain so much of that park was 1 train because they don't have enough maintenance trains for nothing. They need to spend more money on every coaster they can in regards to trains. Not buy more coasters, but buy more trains for coasters. I don't know if they since changed this, but why in the world did they give a Riddler train to Great Adventure? Great Adventure should have just bought another train for Chang / Green Lantern. Magic Mountain is not a 1/2 year park like Great America. It's a year round park, and should be run like 1 with EXTRA maintenance trains.

Over Texas and Over Georgia are also 2 parks that are becoming more year round like parks, and should buy more maintenance trains for rides. Yes, they might be $1 million for a train, but that's the price you pay when you want to be open all year round.

Great America doesn't have to buy 3 trains for Batman the Ride or Superman Ultimate Flight because they have a longer time the park is not open. And yes, I absolutely know that 3 trains on either ride is not possible. I'm only talking about maintenance trains.

I waited like 45 minutes for Riddler at Magic Mountain because of the stupid 1 train, and the park was only open till like 6 pm. So many rides at that park were long because of the 1 train operation.

That park gave me a bad taste in my mouth, and it's not worth going back to because of the horrible 1 train operations. Who cares if that park has 19 coasters if so many of them are only running 1 train on a shortened day. They should get their act together, and start worrying about maintenance trains. They should even take out 5 coasters at the park in order for them to get their act together. An amusement park isn't just about what type of coasters you have, but the experience you have during the day. They have yet to figure this out.

"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"

Ilovthevu' wrote: Spacely's, Little Dipper, and the Batman indoors are probably the only rides that can safely be sent within 30 seconds.

Raging Bull, American Eagle, Whizzer, Joker, and Demon all have blocks less than 30 seconds apart after the lift hill. I believe The Dark Knight (not Batman indoors) has 20 second dispatches, but correct me if I'm wrong). So that makes six coasters that can handle 30 second dispatches (time being after the air gates open, not when the previous train has left the station).

^I love some of the comments in the video: "this hurt﻿" / "I hate this ride. Last time I went on my head bounced back and I literally heard a crack and got a headache. Worst ride ever.﻿" / "Don't go on it I got a concussion on the corkscrews﻿" / "i hit mu head against the handles﻿" / "ikr I almost broke my neck on the loop parts﻿" / "One word: ow﻿" / "ikr I got whiplash in the corkscrew" / "I hit my head so much on this one!﻿" - respond to that "Me too", "I hate this ride because of that reason alone...aside from it being slow halfway through" & "true" / "I rode this when I was little, and I liked it. But years later, I have grown and hit my head a bunch of times. Now I don't like it" / "This has to be the worst ride in the park﻿" / "Too Be Honest I Don't Really Like This Coaster Because It Is A Headbanger﻿" / "I fainted on this ride﻿" / "This ride sucks﻿" / "That ride gives you head injuries﻿"/ "I got on that my head was everywhere﻿"

And yes, we were both right about Batman indoors. It's 23 seconds:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw5AqNsKBV0Though with this ride, they never run 1 car. So, in reality in order to leave the station you probably are waiting for at least 2 cars in front of you. --23 seconds twice. So, that's 46 seconds to dispatch.

So, I'm down to Spacely's, and Little Dipper. If you want to agree with their 30 seconds thing being safe to dispatch, fine. Whatever.. For me, it's a trick to get people to hurry up like it matters. Oh, my goodness. We only have 30 seconds to dispatch. We better hurry up asap. If they do that on Goliath, I think that's why you would have people push their lapbars down when they are not supposed to because it's supposed to leave in 30 seconds - if they even say that for Goliath. People would get in panic mode with their lapbars up in the air. That's the ride they should absolutely not say anything about it, but they probably will.

"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"